Cas, the (wanna-be) Astrophysicist
by KreepyDoor
Summary: SPNverse. Castiel decides Fred Jones is boring. After that, he ends up with a brown car, the resolve to diminish religious faith worldwide, 45 handles of whiskey, college loans, aaand he may be falling in love. The Winchester brothers will hopefully be fine without him. Cas/OC
1. Chapter 1

So, first thing I've written on here since 2008. Hopefully I can update as much as I want, I'm already a chapter ahead of this one.

I don't own Supernatural. Just Melanie I guess, and any other random characters that pop up.

Fuck dat Naomi shit. It's too early in the game for me to be making predictions about that situation, so yes, I'm going to just blatantly ignore it. For now.

Also, I listed this under Romance/Humor... definitely will be romantic. Not sure about the humor part. I usually have a pretty dry sense of humor, so we'll see how it turns out. In the future, the rating may go up, depending on what content I decide to include.

* * *

Cas quickly stood up, deciding once and for all that the new Fred Jones is going to be just as much fine as he is boring. It's been only 5 days, but Cas finds himself to have less patience these days. He readies himself for flight, but pauses.

_Where will I go?_ he thinks to himself. He contemplates calling the Winchesters, but realizes that if he really wanted to be with them so soon, he would have just left with them in the first place. This thought brought him to his next question… _What do I want to do?_

Cas smiled a bit at his ability of freethinking, but it faltered when he realized that he didn't have the answer. He thought about Dean, and how he'd had his small slice of the apple pie life, when he was supposedly free of his hunting duties.

And he thought of Sam, who wanted a normal life more than anything. Sam, who had almost obtained that normal life twice.

_I had a normal life,_ but Cas thinks on and realizes that he wasn't very happy with that life. He remembers how awful it felt to be missing pieces of himself, and he probably ended up ruining the life of the poor woman he'd left behind. He felt regret, but he felt a twinge of something else, too.

Cas wanted a do over, but not with the woman, or with his religious suburban life.

He may be an angel, but he's spent enough time as both a "human" and a psychologically imbalanced being exploring the world to know that religion on earth is just downright _creepy_. And misplaced, too, seeing as God is not even present (or he is, and he really just does not give a fuck).

_I want to help people_, he thinks,_ in a way that faith never could._ As the wheels are turning in his mind, Castiel, angel of the Lord, grows just a little excited upon closing in on what he's decided to do with his time.

Castiel, angel of the Lord, decides to become an astrophysicist.

If Dean knew, he would laugh at the irony, and Cas probably wouldn't understand. Really though, Castiel, angel of the Lord, goddamn astrophysicist!

He knows most everything about physics anyways; he wants to apply his knowledge to teach humans how to move on and expand from their seemingly stuck states of mind. With 300 sextillion stars in the universe, why can't there be other forms of life?

A fleeting thought of _That's where God must be_ crossed Castiel's mind, but really that just hurt his head (feelings?) to think about, so Cas just continued thinking his plan through,

He sat down again next to Fred while he sorted his thoughts.

* * *

A day later, he showed up at Garth's homebase with 32 napkins (all he had at his disposal) etched with his plans for what he decided is going to be a fairly normal, extremely enlightening "human" life.

The following week, Castiel was ready to go with numerous fraudulent documents: driver's license, passport, social security card, birth certificate, a car title (which came with a car and keys), a couple credit cards, and a debit card. Oh yeah, and he had an acceptance letter from a university, too; a double major in astronomy and physics was his chosen path.

Castiel had chosen to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That way, he paid in-state tuition, and he was only about an hour away from his "hometown" of Pontiac, Illinois. That was a normal distance from "home" for students to go, right?

The week earlier, as Castiel was sorting through his napkins and explaining his plan to Garth, Garth brought up a good point.

"Dude, these kids are like… 18 when they start college. They're going to think you're a loser for looking like you're pushing 40 and starting _freshman_ classes."

Cas slightly rumpled as Garth's comment, "I do not care if I look like a loser. Although… it could bring unnecessary attention to myself later on when I am being given credit for revolutionizing the way mankind perceives the scientific world (if Cas had any sense of narcissism, this would have been the moment he expressed it). I want my personal life to be questioned as little as possible. Also, at a younger age, I could stay on earth for at least 20 years longer than if I stayed as I am now. I think you may be right, Garth. The younger, the better."

Castiel tired out around at 20, which was fine by him. It was close enough. Garth however, protested.

"We can't say that you were homeschooled and then have a full-grown man enter college! Those kids graduate high school at like, 16!"

Castiel offered, "I travelled for a bit. Plus, I do not want to be under the age of drinking for too long."

"You're an angel, you can just zap in and out of a liquor store."

"I wish to be as 'normal' as possible," Cas said, using his famous air quotes.

Garth laughed, "You idjit." Castiel raised a brow at this, but other than that ignored the comment.

And that is how we've come to present-day, Castiel Novak, 20 years old with an old and brown 1984 Chevy Camaro and a mini U-Haul taking off to college and living in an apartment that costs him less than $400 per month (including utilities!) to rent.

Cas peeled out with a sickening screech, leaving Garth watching, waving, smiling, and with the threat of a slow and painful death if he tells any of this to either of the Winchester brothers.

"That crazy motherfucker, I probably should have taught him how to drive."

* * *

A month later, Castiel was feeling particularly stressed.

College is _expensive_. And so far, pretty useless. Astronomy 101 and Physics 110? Seriously? He was doing more work for his gen eds then he was for his core major classes.

Cas sighed and rubbed his eyes; balancing check books were not fun. So far, he'd had to buy a laptop ($1200 for an aluminum plated computer? He didn't want to stand out so… there goes $1200) and almost $600 worth of books.

Also, he met a guy in class and invited him over one day. At the time, his apartment was bare of all things made for consumption save for the 45 handles of whiskey that stocked his fridge, freezer, and kitchen cabinets.

Not only did this freak Max out, it also made Castiel really regret cheating and zapping in and out of a liquor store.

So Castiel spent another $50 on food that will go bad before he's ever curious enough to eat it, all just because he didn't want to look weird. He really didn't want to use either of the charge cards for these things (they were already being used to deal with things car-related and pay the interest for his education loan), so he decided he would be breaking another ATM sometime very, very soon.

He got a job at the undergraduate library.

It suited Castiel; it was quiet for the most part, and there was a coffee shop in the building. He had grown particularly fond of fancy coffee. Almost $5 per cup, but the chocolate-y peppermint taste that all but covered the actual coffee soothed him.

His life was peaceful, save for the money stress, but he was working on that. Dean would pray to him every once in a while. So far, help from him hasn't been absolutely imperative. It's usually just inquiring about where Cas is, or how he's doing.

On October 14th, Cas flew to Maine, just to call Dean (without being accurately tracked) and tell him _yes, I'm fine, I'm doing things on my own for a while. Please don't call me unless you truly need my assistance._ Cas went home and once again took the battery from his old cell phone and stashed the pieces in a drawer.

On October 22nd, he was working a shift at the library. On Monday's, he just works the front desk. He was doing some reading for his non-western _slowly, normally, like a human_ he keeps reminding himself.

A voice clears, and he looks up.

_Shit. Shit shit shit shit. _Castiel would have repeated "holy shit" to himself, but he just didn't do holy any more.

This girl made his heart fucking jump. She was wearing a blue long-sleeved scoop neck top that was a little loose-fitting. This drew his eyes right to the expanse of her neck, which seamlessly connected her collar bone to her head. Her teeth were white and straight, and her lips were bowed similarly to Dean's, only hers were a bit wider and had a natural upward curve. There was a slight bump on her otherwise perfect nose and her eyes and wavy hair were almost the same honey-brown color and –

"Uh," she said.

Castiel blinked. He'd literally just been staring at her with his mouth open for almost 15 seconds now. "Can I help you?" he ground out.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if the help desk for the campus internet was on this floor?"

"Um, just go around this way," he pointed, "and keep heading back until you see the sign," his vessel's heart was still hammering away. She turned to walk away but whipped back very quickly.

"Hey, you're in my anthro class aren't you?" he barely nodded when she continued, "I think I may end up sitting around the same spot as you a lot. I was supposed to take the class with my friend but she couldn't fit it into her schedule. Do you want to get together and maybe review with me for the midterm next week?"

He once more nodded dumbly, reminding himself to blink.

"Cool," she said, "I won't bother you at work any longer, I'll just see you in lecture on Wednesday and we can work something out."

She waved as she turned to leave. As she walked away, the angel took the chance to admire her ass, which was covered by black leggings.

Once back at his apartment, Castiel quickly stripped down. He'd taken a shower only once before, after balancing his checkbook. He remembers Dean once saying it calms his nerves.

He turned the water all the way hot and stepped in, just standing there as the water gradually warmed up. He squirted some Axe stuff into his hands and rubbed it all over his body, even his hair. After rinsing off, he stood there for 5 more minutes just contemplating this new situation he's in before shutting the water off and drying himself and putting pajamas on. As he brushes his teeth, he congratulates himself on getting the hang of this whole human thing.

Staring at himself in the mirror, he wonders if the girl thinks that his appearance is attractive.

Later, he finished up a paper and lied down on his bed. He went into some freaky angel power-down mode.

If he could dream, it probably would be about that girl.

Tuesday passed by slowly. At night, he began to grow nervous for his anthropology class in the morning. Cas, being Cas, was a little excited to be what he identified as nervous, because nervousness is a human emotion. But then, he feels foolish.

_I am billions of years old_, he thinks,_ I'm not __**actually**__ 20,_ and then he starts to wonder if staying in his vessel for so long is starting to affect him.

* * *

Wednesday morning, he does the entire human routine. Showers, shaves, brushes teeth, zaps away a pimple (20 years old, God damn it) and ties his shoelaces. Feeling like a real boy, he packs his bag and walks the 3 short blocks to the building that anthropology is in.

For the first 20 minutes of class, he is constantly craning his neck to find the girl. Disappointed, he gives up, and starts paying attention to the professor, occasionally taking notes. With 10 minutes of lecture left, the girl sneaks in through the back and steps over several people to sit next to Cas.

"Hey," she whispers, "I almost didn't make it… Wine Night Tuesday got the best of me last night," she joked.

Cas found it appropriate to give a small laugh, "Glad you could make it." She smiled and whipped out her notebook, writing down as many things as she could from the board with what time she had left.

"Oh fuck it, maybe I can find the recorded lecture online later."

9:50 came, and they packed up and stepped into the hallway outside of the lecture hall. On the way out, Castiel took in her appearance. Leggings again, with black leather boots and a gray half zip sweatshirt. Her straightened hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore no makeup, save for some under-eye concealer and left over mascara.

"So, do you know anyone else who'd like join in on our review?" she asked. "No, I am the only one I know who is taking the class," Castiel replied.

"Okay, so just us then. My name is Melanie, by the way. You can just call me Mel," and finally, she introduced herself.

"My name is Castiel. You may call me Cas." "Interesting name, I like it!" she complimented.

"I like Melanie," he awkwardly offered.

Mel smiled, "So, next week is our exam. Do you want to get together on Sunday to study?" He nodded, and she continued, "I'd offer my place, but I can't stand my roommate. Is your place cool?"

_Is my place cool? Cool… cold? No… oh!_ Cas did still struggle with the language, sometimes.

"Yes, my place is… cool. I live on the corner of 4th and Armory," Cas smiled at his correct usage of the word "cool".

She frowned just a bit while she was thinking of the location and then she said, "Oh, okay. It should only take me about 15 minutes to walk there."

"I can pick you up, if you'd like. Where is your residence?"

Mel's eyebrow raised at his terminology, but answered, "I live in the Illinois Street dorms. You can pick me up on Sunday around 3 in the circle drive, if that works for you."

They continued chatting before reaching her next building and bidding goodbye. Once she was gone, Castiel realized that he'd walked with her to the wrong side of the quad, and would probably be late for his next lecture.

He shrugged. It was just that elementary physics class. Why can't he just be widely recognized like Neil de Grasse Tyson already?


	2. Chapter 2

Hope everyone likes the chapter.

I don't own Supernatural.

* * *

On Friday, she sat next to him again. He decided he'd like her to sit next to him in every one of his classes, especially since she smells so good and her quiet laugh keeps him amused during lecture.

He walked her to her next class again, smiling a nodding at everything Mel had to say. His vessel's heart skipped a beat when she touched his arm and said goodbye.

On Saturday, he started panicking.

_I'm too weird for this. I never say the right thing. What if she runs away like Chastity? _Castiel tugged at his hair before coming to a conclusion. He pieced his phone back together, flew to a random state, and called Dean.

"Where are you?"

"Whoa, hey Cas. Long time no talk. I thought you didn't need us?" Dean teased.

"This isn't funny! Where are you?"

Dean gave Cas their location (Bobby's old place), and Cas instantly flew to him.

Dean dropped his phone, along with his jaw. Sam walked in the room and dropped the bowl of noodles he was carrying.

Castiel's vessel was almost 20 years younger than they last saw, and he had a bit of babyface under his scruff to show for it. He was wearing fitted dark jeans, Nike's, and a red V-neck.

Dean started cracking up, while Sam continued to look bewildered.

"Oh my- oh my GOD, Cas!" Dean wiped a tear as Cas scowled. "You look like a fucking yuppie! What the hell happened to you? Is that a girl shirt, man? Did some witch boy-bandify you? Oh, fuck this is awesome. I understand why you stayed away so long!"

"No Dean," Cas ground out, "I have not been 'boy-bandified' by a witch. I de-aged my vessel for personal reasons. This is how the age group commonly dresses in these modern times."

Dean kept laughing. Castiel glowered, and a light-bulb burst. At that, Dead clutched his side and got the last of his giggles out.

"Oh, shit man. I'm sorry. What's up?" Dean amended.

"I believe I'm on the verge of initiating a romantic relationship. How do I do it?"

"Sammy, this relationship shit is all you," Dean took Cas by the shoulders and walked him to Sam, who was stepping over the broken ceramic of the bowl. Cas waved a hand a fixed it.

"Thanks man," Sam said, "So uh, what about a romantic relationship?"

"I want one."

"Uh, so I've heard. With who? What is the situation? I need details, Cas."

"Well," Cas began, "She is a biochemistry student at a university. We met in a library. She is coming over tomorrow to study."

"Why are you at a university, Cas?" Sam inquired, "Aren't you like, a million years old? Don't you already know everything?"

"I am far older than a million years, Sam," Cas answered, "and yes, I know most things about the workings of the world. I want to share this knowledge. Enlighten mankind, if you will. But first, I must gain credibility. Climb the ladder, so to speak. In any case, this is irrelevant to my current problem."

"So you're off playing Prometheus on the slow road while we hunt down Crowley and the tablets?" Dean yelled.

"Please calm down, Dean. You know I will come if need be. Otherwise, I think you brothers can handle it. I no longer wish to use my hands as a soldier, but as a scholar," Cas lifted his hands up as if to say _See? This is what they were made for._

Dean glared, but said no more.

Sam awkwardly sat Cas down. Putting his hand on Cas's shoulder and thought about his next words. He didn't want to give Cas bad advice. Or advice that he would misinterpret, for that matter.

"Well," Sam started, "she's coming over tomorrow?" Castiel nodded, "At 3."

"That's right between lunch and dinner. How about after you study, you offer to take her out to dinner? Not anywhere fancy. Keep it casual. And make sure you order food and for Christ's sake, eat the food. If it goes well, you should meet up with her next weekend at a bar or something. Is she old enough to get into bars?"

"Campus bars only require patrons to be at least 19 years of age for entry. She has mentioned being at a theme night one particular bar hosts, so I think she is old enough, even though she is a freshman and it's only October. She must have an early birthday."

"Wow Cas, really robbing the cradle, there," Dean interjected.

Cas blinked, "My vessel is 20 years old. That's no more than one year older than her."

Dean raised his eyebrows, but resumed his quiet.

Sam continued walking Cas through the steps of a basic college relationship, gave him some tips, and gave him warnings on when you know it just isn't going to work. He also dug through his duffel and handed Cas four condoms.

"Be careful, man. You never know what could happen," Sam warned. Cas took the string of condoms, awkwardly holding them out to the side. "C'mon man, you have to know what those are for," Dean said.

"I am not stupid, Dean."

Cas said goodbye, and popped back to his apartment.

"Is it just me, or does it feel like we just sent our kid off into the big bad world with nothing but some rubbers?" Dean asked. Sam's eyebrows furrowed into that puppy dog look, "Yeah, it kind of does. This feels kind of off for other reasons too though. I thought…" Same trailed off and Dean finished, "You thought that he was gay?"

"Yeah," to be honest, Sam had thought Cas was in love with Dean. Dean replied, "Hey, it ain't no skin off my back," and Sam thinks that maybe Dean also thought that Cas was in love with him.

* * *

Just like last time, he took his battery from his phone so the Winchesters couldn't track him. He threw the condoms in the same drawer, and contemplated getting a phone for school use.

He laid in bed, thinking about a phone plan that was not pre-paid minutes, and about the potential dinner the following night with Mel. He rubbed his hands over his face. More money.

On Sunday, Castiel took a long look at his living space. It was neat. _Too neat, _he decided, and proceeded to put things in a small state of disarray. He wanted it to look lived in, and while yes, this is where he spent a lot of his time, he really didn't do anything that makes messes.

Cas took two plates, a glass, and a couple of forks and set them in the sink. He pulled back the comforter on his bed (he usually just went into stand-by mode on top of the covers). He turned the TV on and found something that looked semi-interesting and not inappropriate and opened a long-ignored bag of chips and set it on his kitchen table.

Deciding this was good enough (he didn't want to look sloppy, just normal), he sat on the couch and watched TV intently for two hours. Then, it was 2:45.

He picked up his keys and walked out the door, locking it before turning to the back of the building. He unlocked his car and stuck the keys in the ignition. _I hope that she likes my car_, Cas thought. He knew it was silly, but Dean always, always said, "Chicks dig sweet cars." Whatever digging is a euphemism for, he hopes that Mel does it. It was old, but so was Dean's. Cas was very fond of Dean's car, which was even older and had quadruple the number of miles on it. He also liked the brown color of his car, but Cas was also happened to be an angel who was weird as fuck.

Castiel shook himself from his thoughts started up the car. Being Sunday, there weren't too many pedestrians out and the drive across campus took him less than ten minutes. In that ten minutes, Cas really wished that he had sprung for an automatic transmission; he was terrible at manual. Dean would have laughed.

Cas pulled into the circle drive of Mel's dorm and only had to wait for 4 minutes before he noticed her walking up to his car.

As always, Cas took her whole person in. That day, Mel had chosen to leave her hair be in its natural state; long and wavy. She wore a black leather jacket and her black boots, but this time she had jeans clinging to her thin legs instead of leggings.

She opened the door and sat, "Hey Cas. Thanks for picking me up, it's nice to not have to walk or take the bus for once." She set her back pack at her feet.

"Hello, Mel. I don't mind picking you up," and Cas smiled. Sam told Cas to smile a lot. He hopes that his smiles won't creep Mel out… Cas coughed a bit and began the trip back to his apartment.

"Sweet car by the way. I bet lots of chicks dig it." "I have been told that chicks dig sweet cars many times," Cas said, "Do you dig it?" he added.

She looked around the car. It was clean inside with original leather upholstery, and the outside had been shiny and not rusty from what she could see. "I do dig it," She told him with a smile.

_I think she likes my car. Good. I like my car too,_ and although Cas knew that much of his knowledge of mankind came from the Winchesters, he hadn't realized that Dean's personality had rubbed off on him enough to become possessive over a car.

"One time, I got naked, covered myself in honey, and brought a swarm of bees into my friend's 1967 Chevy Impala," Cas had no idea why he just said that. How. Embarrassing. He's failed. She was going to jump out of the car and run for her dorm to study on her own and never speak to him again.

Luckily for Cas, Mel didn't even bat an eye. Okay, maybe she had been batting her eyes, but not because she was uncomfortable. "That's pretty ballsy. Did he get pissed?" Cas nodded, still mortified that he blurted out a memory from his temporary insanity.

"I hate bugs," she continued, "but one time I pet a snake when I was really drunk. It gave me a kiss."

"That was very brave of you." She just gave a light giggle and Cas was relieved that he hadn't ruined everything so soon. He pulled into the parking lot, and they walked into his apartment to start studying.

Around 5:30, Cas was glad to sense that she was getting hungry. Mel kept picking at the chips he'd left out. If it were just him, he never would have studied for this anthropology class. He already knew the material before even registering for the class, and to be quite honest, he would have tired of this studying thing long ago if Mel wasn't so beautiful and animated about everything she does.

"Are you hungry?" he asked abruptly. "Weeeell," she drawled out before grabbing another chip, "Maybe just a little bit," she joked and ate her chip.

"Good," he said, "Uh, I am too. Did you want to go by somewhere for dinner?" She nodded,"Yeah, let me just use the bathroom before we go," when she closed the door, he flew to his cabinets, where he took out a half empty handle and chugged the other half. _I must stay loose. I can't be too stiff_, Cas repeated in his head the words that Sam had told him the night before.

By the time she exited the bathroom, he was back in his original spot. She walked over and picked her jacket up, but paused, sniffing, "Did you just take a shot of something?" He stiffened, _Stay loose!_ "Share the love, man. Drinking is a perfect reward for a study session well done."

"I agree… I'll just… get you a glass," he offered and walked to his kitchen, mindful of her not noticing how stocked with whiskey he cabinets were. He splashed a bit into two glasses, and walked back to her, handing her one.

She took it and raised it towards his glass, "Cheers," and then gulped it down. She made a slight face, "Ugh, whiskey."

"Sorry, it's all I have." She shook her head, "Don't worry about it. Whiskey and I have a sort of love-hate relationship. You know how it is!"

He nodded a bit too gravely, "Yes, I know how it is."

Melanie resumed putting her jacket on, "Let's walk somewhere, it's a nice evening." Castiel gave a sound of approval, and grabbed his keys before opening the door for her. She smiled at him on her way out, and he slightly shook his head, smiling back. The motion made him a tiny bit dizzy, and he thought that maybe it's good that they're walking rather than driving.

* * *

The meal had been good. They ended up at a pub a few blocks north from his place. It was a busy street for students, and there were a lot of other young people, some of whom Melanie recognized and said a quick "Hi" to.

Castiel stuck with what he knew, and ordered a burger and fries. Melanie ordered chicken fingers with a side of veggies instead of fries, and Cas smiled fondly. Her meal choice reminded him of Sam.

"I have a friend who likes to eat healthy, too," he stated. She smiled wide, "Oh, you don't know me well enough yet. I love food and I eat whatever I want. I just happen to love most vegetables. But really, don't leave me alone in a room with a bowl of candy!"

They both laughed, and Castiel felt very, very human. Seriously. Her laugh all but went straight to his vessel's dick. Honestly, he needs to forget about it being a vessel and own up to the blossoming boner being all him.

By the time they left, so had the boner; Cas was knowledgeable enough to know that walking around with one would be indecent. They walked back to his place and he drove her home. Before she got out of the car, she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"See you tomorrow, Cas."

Cas drove home with a chub, and he once again took a shower. This time, he decided to explore some of the real perks to having a human body.


End file.
